Olympic Athlete Superstitions & Rituals

Sochi Olympic Athletes Reveal Their Most Bizarre Pre-Comp Rituals

Having worked with Olympians for over 20 years, Dr. Jensen has definitely experienced his fair share of wackiness. "I've had a hockey player talk to me at one point about curses."

That's not to say that believing in superstitions can't help. According to a study in the Journal of the Association for Psychological Science, activating good-luck-related superstitions improves subsequent performance in areas like motor dexterity and memory.

And this irrational approach for mental comfort is completely normal in sports. In fact, some of the greatest athletes have used superstitions and repetitive rituals to get in the zone. Michael Jordan had a reputation for wearing his North Carolina college basketball shorts underneath his NBA uniform every game for good luck. The Detroit Tigers' pitcher Mark Fidrych was the one who originally created the trend to talk to the baseball before throwing a pitch. And don't forget about Montreal Canadiens' goalie Patrick Roy, who would have conversations with his goal posts mid-game.

Plus, sometimes you just can't disprove the logic of a "good luck" charm. Canadian skeleton racer John Fairbairn admits to tying a medallion with the symbol of the Archangel Raphael to his backpack when he's sliding, for "speed and safety." And Canadian women's half-pipe snowboarder Katie Tsuyuki has a stone mined in Russia called charoite. "It grounds energy and helps keep me in the moment," she says.

Other Team Canada athletes, however, like skeleton racer Eric Neilson, don't believe in any of it. "I used to have a bunch of superstitions," he says, "like putting shoes on in a certain way or sitting in a certain spot, but then I realized how dumb they really were."

Dr. Jensen says that when he's working with athletes, he suggests routines rather than rituals. They make sure that an athlete is in a confidant mental state before an event. "They're very individualistic and involve self-monitoring, awareness and using mental skills to make sure that they're in their ideal performance state prior to competing."